Lori C. (dollycas) reviewed Statue of Limitations (Goddess of Greene St., Bk 1) on + 644 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Dollycas's Thoughts
I have been so excited about this new series from Kate Collins and she sure doesn't disappoint.
We meet Athena Spencer who has come home to her big Greek family in Sequoia, Michigan with her son Nicholas after her divorce. Her grandparents have a Greek restaurant and her father owns the local garden center. Athena and her sister work at the garden center with her father. The center also has a resident troublemaker in the form of a raccoon that makes himself quite at home.
The patriarch of a prominent Talbot family has passed away and Athena's pappoús (grandfather) brought a valuable statue at the estate sale. Because of the statue's size, it was brought to the garden center until her grandfather finds the perfect place for it.
But a hunky stranger surprises Athena late one night stating his family is the rightful owner of the statue. As if Althena needed another problem to solve. With his dad out of the picture, Sonny Talbot has decided to move forward with a previously dead plan to demolish all the shops know as Little Greece on Greene Street including her grandparent's restaurant. His decision draws the rath of the whole area and raises suspicions that maybe the senior Talbot's death was not due to natural causes. When another man linked to the family is killed Althena feels the heat to not only save her family's restaurant but to bring a killer to justice.
____
Ms. Collins has served up a big cast of Greek characters. They are unique and genuine and we have just scratched the surface at getting to know them. Like all families, especially Greek families, everyone has an opinion about Athena's love life.
In addition to the Spencer family, we meet Case Donnelly. There is a spark between Athena and Case but her family believes her destiny is with Kevin Coreopsis, a lawyer who has also recently returned home to Sequoia. Athena has a special way of dealing with her overbearing family though, and I love it. She writes a blog âIt's All Greek to Meâ under the name of Goddess Anon. Her family loves the blog not knowing that it is penned by their own Athena.
As is the case in most first books in a series which spends a great bit of time introducing characters, the mystery while well-crafted was pretty easy to solve. That being said I was completely captivated by it. I enjoyed the way Case and Athena worked together. There were twists and tension and plenty of humor too. The pacing was perfect, it was hard to put the book down.
This series is off to a splendid start. Statue of Limitations was a fun and entertaining read filled with characters I can't wait to visit again.
I have been so excited about this new series from Kate Collins and she sure doesn't disappoint.
We meet Athena Spencer who has come home to her big Greek family in Sequoia, Michigan with her son Nicholas after her divorce. Her grandparents have a Greek restaurant and her father owns the local garden center. Athena and her sister work at the garden center with her father. The center also has a resident troublemaker in the form of a raccoon that makes himself quite at home.
The patriarch of a prominent Talbot family has passed away and Athena's pappoús (grandfather) brought a valuable statue at the estate sale. Because of the statue's size, it was brought to the garden center until her grandfather finds the perfect place for it.
But a hunky stranger surprises Athena late one night stating his family is the rightful owner of the statue. As if Althena needed another problem to solve. With his dad out of the picture, Sonny Talbot has decided to move forward with a previously dead plan to demolish all the shops know as Little Greece on Greene Street including her grandparent's restaurant. His decision draws the rath of the whole area and raises suspicions that maybe the senior Talbot's death was not due to natural causes. When another man linked to the family is killed Althena feels the heat to not only save her family's restaurant but to bring a killer to justice.
____
Ms. Collins has served up a big cast of Greek characters. They are unique and genuine and we have just scratched the surface at getting to know them. Like all families, especially Greek families, everyone has an opinion about Athena's love life.
In addition to the Spencer family, we meet Case Donnelly. There is a spark between Athena and Case but her family believes her destiny is with Kevin Coreopsis, a lawyer who has also recently returned home to Sequoia. Athena has a special way of dealing with her overbearing family though, and I love it. She writes a blog âIt's All Greek to Meâ under the name of Goddess Anon. Her family loves the blog not knowing that it is penned by their own Athena.
As is the case in most first books in a series which spends a great bit of time introducing characters, the mystery while well-crafted was pretty easy to solve. That being said I was completely captivated by it. I enjoyed the way Case and Athena worked together. There were twists and tension and plenty of humor too. The pacing was perfect, it was hard to put the book down.
This series is off to a splendid start. Statue of Limitations was a fun and entertaining read filled with characters I can't wait to visit again.
Brenda H. (booksinvt) -
Statue of Limitations is the debut of the A Goddess of Greene Street Mystery series set in the coastal town of Sequoia, Michigan and featuring blogger and garden center owner Athena Spencer. Having suffered through a nasty divorce Athena has moved back to town with her young son, Nicholas and is now sharing a home with her parents and sisters and working at the family garden center.
Athena's family don't know that she's the face behind the popular Greek blog they enjoy each morning so she often stays behind to write after the garden center closes at night. One evening thinking the loud crash outside is their neighborhood raccoon, Oscar, getting up to no good Athena is shocked to discover a man digging around the base of the statue that her Grandfather recently bought at an estate sale.
It appears the mysterious man is Pittsburgh native, Case Donnelly who claims that the statue was stolen from his family's museum and he's looking to find the certificate of authenticity and also wants Athena to come up with the receipt that the statue was bought legally. Athena knows that when wealthy town resident Grayson Talbot Sr died mysteriously in his bathtub, his son Grayson "aka Sonny" had an estate sale and her Grandfather purchased the statue from the sale.
Grayson Talbot Sr. is the same man who wanted to tear down the section of Sequoia dubbed "Little Greece" where Athena's family has lived and worked amongst their Greek friends their whole lives. Thinking that instead of the close knit community the town would be better served by a high rise condominium complex and expensive boutique shops. But at the last council meeting it seemed that Grayson had finally given in to the Greeks and was going to abandon his plan, even going so far as to draw up and sign an agreement. But, before the papers were filed the man was dead and the papers missing.
When Grayson's long time assistant Harry Pepper is found dead just a few weeks later at the Talbot home, and surveillance video shows Case running from the home he immediately becomes wanted for murder. With her gut telling her that Case is no killer, she hides him on her Grandfather's fishing boat, provides him with a disguise and teams up with him to save her community and find the person responsible for two deaths.
A fast paced plot with likable characters. A feel good family that transports you right into the center of Sequoia. I was a little apprehensive since it seemed the author was heading the way of the dreaded love triangle but it appears that may have been resolved...guess we'll have to stay tuned.
Athena's family don't know that she's the face behind the popular Greek blog they enjoy each morning so she often stays behind to write after the garden center closes at night. One evening thinking the loud crash outside is their neighborhood raccoon, Oscar, getting up to no good Athena is shocked to discover a man digging around the base of the statue that her Grandfather recently bought at an estate sale.
It appears the mysterious man is Pittsburgh native, Case Donnelly who claims that the statue was stolen from his family's museum and he's looking to find the certificate of authenticity and also wants Athena to come up with the receipt that the statue was bought legally. Athena knows that when wealthy town resident Grayson Talbot Sr died mysteriously in his bathtub, his son Grayson "aka Sonny" had an estate sale and her Grandfather purchased the statue from the sale.
Grayson Talbot Sr. is the same man who wanted to tear down the section of Sequoia dubbed "Little Greece" where Athena's family has lived and worked amongst their Greek friends their whole lives. Thinking that instead of the close knit community the town would be better served by a high rise condominium complex and expensive boutique shops. But at the last council meeting it seemed that Grayson had finally given in to the Greeks and was going to abandon his plan, even going so far as to draw up and sign an agreement. But, before the papers were filed the man was dead and the papers missing.
When Grayson's long time assistant Harry Pepper is found dead just a few weeks later at the Talbot home, and surveillance video shows Case running from the home he immediately becomes wanted for murder. With her gut telling her that Case is no killer, she hides him on her Grandfather's fishing boat, provides him with a disguise and teams up with him to save her community and find the person responsible for two deaths.
A fast paced plot with likable characters. A feel good family that transports you right into the center of Sequoia. I was a little apprehensive since it seemed the author was heading the way of the dreaded love triangle but it appears that may have been resolved...guess we'll have to stay tuned.
